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This study was inspired by some recent changes in organization and structure of the distributive trades in Sweden. Attention is focused on various aspects of integration in marketing systems consisting of retail and wholesale units. Three main types of integration concept are defined, their interrelations discussed and their relations to efficiency in the systems analysed. The three are: institutional integration, decision integration and execution integration. The last of these contains four variables: activity transference, internalization, exclusiveness and homogeneity.In a comparative study of four marketing systems in the food trade, representing different degrees of institutional integration, the decision integration and execution integration of various marketing activities are measured.